Suburban report.

Home Builder Wins Fast-track Schedule

October 31, 1999|By Tim Kane.

CRYSTAL LAKE — The Crystal Lake City Council has approved a housing development for Rockford-based Hallmark Homes, which will build 112 town homes next year, more than that allowed by the city's growth-management ordinance.

The ordinance calls for a seven-year build-out for housing subdivisions.

Under the contract for development of the property, construction was to begin in 1997. Litigation delayed the start, and Hallmark insisted on sticking to the original agreement, which called for 112 homes by the end of 2000.

"So next year you want to cram three years of building into one year," said Mayor Aaron Shepley, who opposed the plan. "The point of the growth-management ordinance is not to stop growth but to make it more palatable. The clock should start ticking when you turn the dirt."

A majority of the City Council, however, sided with Hallmark.

Hallmark plans 187 townhouses on a 37-acre parcel on both sides of Alexander Boulevard west of Randall Road.